Outsourcing with oDesk.com

Outsourcing with oDesk.com

With the current trends, outsourcing has become the cheapest and most convenient in the business world. Before, outsourcing has to do with manufacturing and other factory related tasks. But now, even office works are being outsourced. With the fast development in technologies, there is actually a software that will allow the "employee" to access the desktop of the "employer"!!! How amazing can technologies be!

Hiring an employee is no longer limited to same city, state or country. One can actually hire thousands of miles away and still get the same, or better, results. And this is what oDesk is all about...outsourcing.

Upon entering the world of oDesk, you'll witness a variety of people inside. There are those whose employers pay great compliments to and there are those who gave their employers headaches. But these things are not only limited to employees. The same can also be said to the employers. There are those who would "exploit" the contractors at oDesk, offering them very low salaries for very big and hard jobs. But there are those employers who are generous and understands the difficulty of working online. Rare are these people...those who work with dignity & dedication, and those who hire with compassion.

However, these people can be found at oDesk, but one has to search with great patience. Outsourcing is very risky for you'll never know if the one you're working for will pay you as what was stated in the contract or if the one you've hired will work in accordance to what your contract had stipulated. Either way, trust must be built. There's no way for either one to see and monitor the other's actions and thoughts, for there's lesser opportunities to make contact outside work. Rarely will one ask about the other's family life for whatever e-mail or conversation transpires online, it will be all about work. Then how can trust be built, you might ask...well, for the employee, you'll have to check the feedback score given by previous employees, or you'll just have to work for a week or two before you'll know if you're actually getting paid. For the employer, you'll have to hire based on the feedback scores given by previous employers or you can hire and see the progress (or lack of progress)of the employee before hiring for long term (or terminating the contract). As I've mentioned earlier, outsourcing is very risky, however, it can be rewarding for both parties, you'll just have to be patient in looking for the right candidate.

Therefore, if you're willing to give it a try, go ahead. But just be warned, its never easy to find the right fit. You'll need your God-given wisdom in deciding where to apply and most especially who to hire.

Working for oDesk

Working online is not as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of "working online" websites but most of it are only applicable in the United States, or somewhere else, but rarely applies the Philippines. Yes, there were reports that a Filipina had earned hundreds of thousands of pesos by giving her comments online. Rarely will you find a website that offers work for free. If ever there'll be such a website, one can't help but wonder.."is this a scam?" Well, let me tell you my experience with online work...

5 years ago, I've thought of searching for work, online. Since I get to be online almost 24/7, I wanted Internet time to a more profitable and effective. So I've started looking for work online. There were websites that are "catchy" in nature...they will offer you great money with a simple click of a mouse or simply giving your opinion. With these kinds of offers, who will not be tricked into signing up?! And yes, I was tricked into giving them at least $25 for their sign up fee...what did I get? Websites upon websites upon websites....Did I get any offers? Oh yes! But once I clicked on the link to get started, an error will appear saying that the product or company is not being offered in my country! It was so frustrating!!!

I almost gave up, but the Lord has been good, I've found a breakthrough! As I was searching for online work, which I have been doing for the past 5 years, I've finally landed on a gold mine! While clicking on links upon links, I tumbled upon oDesk.com. At first I was apprehensive to join 'coz it might be one of those crazy websites. But as I read thru the website's page, I found out that it's not offering quick money or anything like that. Instead, it's offering real job from real companies for real freelancers...and it's free! So, I've decided to give it a try.

I've filled up their resume, gave a proper calculation of my salary and started applying for work. It's much like applying for a real job in the real world, just minus the hassle of traffic, pollution and weather conditions. I was a member of oDesk since March of 2010, but I only get to work 2 months later. It's not easy to land a job, as it is not easy in the real world. The competition among the contractors are great, but its not impossible to land a job.

The uniqueness of oDesk is in this area: joining the website is free, both for the contractors (freelancers) and the employers; if the employer will hire a contractor, the employer will shoulder the 10% service charge, while the contractors will NOT pay for anything while working under oDesk; the only time a contractor will pay for anything is when he/she will withdraw his/her salary from oDesk, and this is at a very very very low price of $1/withdrawal. So lets say you've earned $251 by working at oDesk and you wanted to withdraw the money, $1 will be deducted from your salary and you get the remaining $250. The same is true to any amount you would like to withdraw. Therefore, it is wise to gather as much money as you can before making a withdrawal.

How to transfer the money from oDesk to your bank account will need another blog for it. What I wanna focus on right now is working online under oDesk.

oDesk guarantees that an hour billed is an hour worked and that an hour worked is an hour paid. That is why there are no "lazy" moments while working at oDesk, which is very unlikely to happen in an office environment. Some people are known to take advantage of their employers absence. Do you know the popular phrase for this? "When the cat is away...the mouse will play" (which, sad to say, is most visible and rampant in the Philippines government employees!) But this is not so with oDesk. oDesk has a software that allows it to take snapshots of what you're doing on your desktop. if you were doing something outside of your work (even for just a few seconds), and oDesk Team took that snapshot, you'll be forced to delete that snapshot, and so does all of your work for that full 10 minutes or so. That's the guarantee of oDesk: that an hour billed is an hour worked and that an hour worked is an hour paid.

There are a lot of work available at oDesk, but most has to do with web pages. Most popular are the web designers and blog/article writers. As I've mentioned earlier, great is the competition among freelancers in landing a good job. And I guess this is the sad part in working for oDesk...for a mom like me, I have to compete with freelancers who have all the time in the world to work. Therefore, those more "abled" freelancers gets to land the "good" jobs while I get the "crumbs".

But in totality, working for oDesk is much more realistic rather than running after the quick and easy way of earning money online. As the older folks used to say "its more satisfying to spend a hard-earned money".

I hope this blog has helped you in any way possible.

For employers who might have read this blog:

For freelancers who wanted to join this wonderful team: